COMMENTARY: Rogers rusty in return, defense appears more aggressive in season opening loss to Miners

Saturday was the first competitive game New Mexico State quarterback Tyler Rogers has played since breaking his left thumb on Oct. 3, 2015.

There were certainly spots during Saturday's 38-22 loss to UTEP in El Paso, mostly in the first half, where that was apparent. Rogers was 5 of 18 in the first half with three of those incomplete passes officially charged as drops by NMSU receivers.

Rogers was also fortunate on at least two occasions that he was not intercepted when throwing into coverage.

He finished the game 17 of 41 (41 percent) for 206 yards with no interceptions after a poor first half. He was 12 of 28 (52 percent) for 158 yards in the second half. Without the threat of Larry Rose III on the field, if someone would have told me that Rogers was going to attempt 41 passes, I would assume there would be at least one interception, possibly two.

For two years, both Albuquerque Journal reporter Ken Sickenger and I have been calling for Rogers to be more aggressive keeping the football on the read option. Rather than throw the ball away or chuck it downfield, Rogers displayed patience and ability to keep plays alive with his feet against UTEP's zone coverage. He rushed for a career-high 63 yards and appeared effective getting out of the pocket on some designed roll out screen passes to his receivers.

"(Rogers) took care of the football and he extended plays and he made things happen by staying mobile and he ran for some key first downs and kept us in the game with that," Aggies head coach Doug Martin said.

Did Rogers miss some passes? Certainly.

But I think at this point in his career, we know what Rogers is. He needs Rose in the offensive backfield to be effective so it's hard for me to judge him harshly when the one player we all knew the Aggies can't afford to lose was not on the field.

He has matured as a quarterback in Martin's system and after recent events in his personal life, he is trying to mature off the field as well.

"He had a lot of distractions but that was self inflicted," Martin said. "He has to take care of himself better and be smarter but hopefully he will learn from that.

"We have all raised children. We all want to give them a second chance and we all want to make sure that we teach them a lesson and they learn. He has learned a valuable lesson. He has been been very responsible and accepted responsibility for things and hopefully it will get better moving forward."

Hopefully for NMSU, Rogers can carry some of the rhythm he found in the second half into next week's game against the Lobos.

Spaziani shows NMSU will be more aggressive on D

Last night I tweeted that am I crazy or has the Aggies offense improved even after giving up 518 total yards.

Thankfully I haven't been destroyed, at least not yet.

But I think some of the folks who responded used a more accurate word, and that is the Aggies were certainly more aggressive.

It's apparent that defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani will apply pressure more often than recent Aggies defenses rather than sit back in coverage and try not to give up the huge play. I will say this as well. NMSU won't face many running backs of the caliber of Aaron Jones, who went for a career high 249 yards (8 yards per carry) against NMSU.

Jones scored two touchdowns of 37 yards and a 75-yarder. There were certainly other breakdowns defensively, such as failing to make a tackle on two third and long conversions that were completed with draw plays. Without those two Aaron Jones rushing TDs, UTEP's rushing numbers drops to 177 yards for the game.

A sign of a more aggressive defense is the Aggies 13 tackles for a loss on Saturday and a number of times NMSU had penetration, but could not finish Jones in the backfield. The Aggies had 56 total tackles for a loss as a team last year.

It seems as though Spaziani is only playing a limited number of players to start the season and their inability to get off the field on third down and the offense's struggles in the first half may have worn them down.

Aggies show mental toughness

Finally, last year's team and certainly the Aggies of 2014 would have folded up shop at halftime.

Playing in and winning some close games last year was helpful for this group. They seemed to be a tougher team mentally. The game was likely decided in the first half, but the Aggies hung around and had the ball in Miners' territory in the fourth quarter with a chance to make it a one score game.

It's a moral victory for sure but perhaps it can translate to a victory on the field on Saturday.

"I feel great moving forward," Aggies receiver Royce Caldwell said. "We didn't want the outcome to come out like this, but we see the things we need to fix. Going into next week, we will play with more confidence and execute the things we should have done tonight."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.